


negotiations in a necropolitical landscape

by AwayLaughing



Series: lines of descent [10]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Cousins, Dysfunctional Family, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hanabi's a baby so she's barely here but still, Hyuuga Hiashi's A+ Parenting, Loss of Parent(s), Sisters, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-07 15:59:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17368970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwayLaughing/pseuds/AwayLaughing
Summary: Three conversations, or approximations thereof, Hyuuga Hinata has in the wake of her mother's death.





	negotiations in a necropolitical landscape

Mother was dead.

 

Hinata wanted, very badly, to cry but wasn’t sure she should. Father wasn’t, Neji-nii wasn’t. Everyone was forever saying _don’t cry_ and Riku-san always hid her tears, so maybe it was bad but...

 

But mother was dead.

 

That was why she was in her room, the door closed and the curtains shut. She was curled into her futon, trying to be quiet as the tears came. She was so busy worrying about it, in fact, she did not notice the door open.

 

“Oh Hinata,” Riku’s voice cut through her sobbing. “Why are you here alone?” A moment later the bed sank, and she was pulled into a one armed into a hug. She struggled to turn, and once she did she found herself starting at Hanabi, wrapped in a blanket and asleep in Riku’s other arm. Or, the blanket really but it had to be Hanabi because Riku carried the laundry in a basket and probably would have set that down.

 

“I – I know I shouldn’t cry-”

 

“Oh Hinata no!” Riku cut her off. “Of course you can cry.”

 

“O-O-Otousama doesn’t and Neji-nii do-doesn’t.”

 

Silence, for a long moment, and the tears kept coming. “Your father, and your cousin are not you,” she said, “that doesn’t make your tears bad, or their lack of tears wrong. They just show how they feel differently.” She nudged her, “after all no one tells Hanabi-chan not to cry.”

 

“H-Hanabi-neechan is a baby. I-I’m not a b-ba-baby!”

 

“No you’re not, but why should she get to cry and not us?” Riku asked, “we get sad too.”

 

“Is Hanabi-neechan sad?” Hinata asked, pulling herself up.

 

“I think so,” she said, “she’s very little and she loved your mother a lot, and now she’s just gone. We can’t explain why to her – so for Hanabi-chan it’s like she’s been abandoned.”

 

Hinata’s tears cut right out, she finished sitting up so she could look at Hanabi better. Riku gently passed her over, helping Hinata hold her until they were certain she was safe. Hanabi grumbled, opening her eyes and wrinkling her nose. White eyes met white eyes, and immediately Hanabi’s whole face changed, the baby breaking out into a smile.

 

“Hi Hanabi-chan,” she said, sniffling so she didn’t drip. “It’s oneesama! You can just call me neesan, or ane, once you can talk. I just wanted to tell you kaasama didnt leave you – she got real sick and died. It means your body doesn’t work anymore and no one can see you ever again. It happened to Hizashi-jisama too, but I don’t really remember him and he was a different kind of sick.”

 

Riku made a small noise at that – but she just shook her head when Hinata looked up at her. So Hinata kept talking.

 

“But I won’t get sick,” she said, “I’ll stay good and healthy and you’ll have me and otousama for a long long time.”

 

“Yes you will,” Riku said, voice a little funny. Then, “oh Hinata-chan. I’m going to miss your mother terribly – and I wish she could see you now!” And just like that all the tears came back.

 

Together they cried, Hanabi staring up at them, white eyes dry. Eventually she reached out, hands landing on Hinata’s face.

 

“Mnanana,” she said, like she was telling Hinata it was okay.

 

Hinata, despite herself, giggled.

 

* * *

 

The monks took a long time to...care for mother. She didn’t like to think of it as burning – burning like her eyes and her nose. She’d tried not to cry, but it just came and she remembered Riku telling her it was okay and that just made her cry harder. It must have been acceptable, though because father had let her hold onto his hakama for most of the ceremony, only making her stop when it was time to thank people for coming.

 

Not a sound had been made, after the final prayer was done, not even as the picked through the black bits. Not even as they sat down to dinner, an hour later.

 

Now it was night time, and she was in bed and wondering if anyone would ever speak again. Next to her the story she and mother had started was on the bedside table. She could see the smiling cat bookmarker, and she’d been staring at it, wanting to reach out and take it, wanting to push it away and hide it.

 

She only looked away because the door opened – and she froze when she realized it was her father.

 

“Hinata-chan,” he said, voice like always. “You should be asleep.”

 

“I know,” she said, trying not to cry because he didn’t like it, and worried he'd think it was too much after the funeral. “I just...” her eyes trailed back to her book. She was surprised when he stepped into the room and picked it up.

 

“ _Chazoku and Other Tales_ ,” he read. “You were reading this with your mother?” Her eyes were wet, her throat was sore and if she opened her mouth – well she nodded. “I see,” he said. Then he set the book back down. “Do you require the light to sleep?” he asked. She would have liked it, yes, but knew he wouldn’t like that answer so she shook her head. “Very well,” he said, plunging the room into darkness. “Rest, you need it.”

 

“Yes otousama,” she said. It was a whisper – and she cringed expecting him to tell her to speak up. Instead he just walked away, and she watched in the dark until the door was closed. She could see him because of the light in the hall, a dark, still shape.

 

He didn't move for a very long time. So long, in fact, Hinata thought he was still there when her eyes finally couldn't stay open any longer.

 

* * *

 

 

Hinata had never snuck out before, but here she was, late late at night, trying not to creak the floors. Tatami didn’t creak too much, but sneaking when you lived with otousama was very, very hard. Even a tiny not-creak might get his attention and if he turned his byakugan on-

 

“What are you doing?”

 

Hinata did not scream in fright – but only because her whole everything froze. Neji-nii was at the end of the hall – no in the door way to the private training ground, which was only almost at the end of the hall. Precision, father said, was important. From here she could feel the cool breeze meaning he hadn’t closed it yet. He was scowling, and it just got deeper when she didn’t answer.

 

“Where are you going?”

 

“...to visit okaasama.”

 

The scowl disappeared as if Neji was surprised. Then it was back. “Wait until morning.”

 

He was so firm and sounded so much like otousama it made it hard to answer but she managed all the same. “We loved watching the stars together,” she said. She expected Neji to scoff – to tell her mother was dead and that meant gone and that she’d be alone with a rock. Instead he was just quiet. And then the door closed behind him.

 

“Fine,” he said, surprising her into going still again. “Come on.”

 

“What?” she asked, unable to make herself move.

 

“I’ll just get in trouble if you get caught, so come on,” he said. “Or go back to bed.”

 

That wasn’t really an option, so she scuttled over to him, still feeling a little overwhelmed. “Neji-nii-”

 

“Be quiet, we’re sneaking,” he said. “And suppress your chakra.”

 

“Right,” she said, hurrying to do as he said. It was a little harder than when she was meditating – her heart beating so hard made her chakra not want to but she managed it by the time they hit the gardens outside. Neji didn’t say good job once she managed it – didn’t say anything as he directed her through a small side gate. A person shifted in the shadows, startling her but they didn’t say anything and Neji-nii didn’t seem to think it was a problem so she kept quiet.

 

Finally they were out of the clan lands, and on the road to the graveyard.

 

“Neji-nii thank you,” she said.

 

“Hng,” he said, clearly meaning he didn’t want to talk. Abashed, she found herself staring down, studying her fingers as they intertwined with one another. The walk was spooky in the dark – very quiet – but it didn’t take long. Soon they were in front of low, polished stone. The moon was enough she could read it, and she blinked hard.

 

_Hyūga Ume_

_Beloved mother and wife_

 

_The earth is fragrant_

_Plum petals fall around me_

_Peace, I return home_

 

“Hi okaasama,” she said, whispering as she ran her fingers over the words. “I came to watch the stars with you, if that’s okay.” She didn’t answer, of course. A few feet away Neji shifted. “Neji-nii came too,” she said, since it only seemed right to include him. “He might not stay to watch though...he could,” she dared a look. “If he wanted.”

 

Neji-nii didn’t answer, of course, and she didn’t risk looking at him again. Instead she settled next to her mother, leaning back to look up. After a moment she heard the sound of Neji sitting too, and she looked over.

 

“Neji-nii,” she said, a little surprised.

 

“What?”

 

...she wasn’t sure. She stared for a long moment, long enough Neji finally turned to look at her. He didn't look angry, for once, just like he was waiting. “Thank you.”

 

“You said that already,” he said. Then he turned back to the stars. Hinata did too – not sure what she’d wanted to say but wishing she could have said it.

**Author's Note:**

> Finally a Hinata POV - poor Hinata is all of 5 and a half here and I definitely did not nail a childish voice for her, but my Hinata voice in general is a little weak.


End file.
